Exploration and salvage submarine



G. w. LEHMANN EXPLORATION AND SALVAGE SUBMARINE Dec. 20, 1966 :5Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 26, 1964 I I Q A 11:: :3

Dec. 20, 1966 (5. w. LEHMANN 3,292,564

EXPLORATION AND SALVAGE SUBMARINE Filed March 26, 1964 5 Sh t -Sh t B W4 ts I N V EN TOR. Guawweg A/ ZEHMA/Y/Y BY 91% m. n. W

AGL-WI' Dec. 20, 1966 G. W. LEHMANN EXPLORATION AND SALVAGE SUBMARINE 5Sheets-Sheet 5 TIL 5O 48 Filed March 26, 1964 lmn'muu INVENTOR. Gus/1mmM Zfi/Mmwv BY My MQWM United States Patent '0 "ice 3,292,564 EXPLORATIONAND SALVAGE SUBMARINE Guenther W. Lehmann, 425 Bernardo Ave.

- Sunnyvale. Calif. 94086 Filed Mar. 26, 1964, Ser. No. 355,057 16Claims. (Cl. 114-16) Salvage work has been done in the past up tomoderate depths only, mainly on account of restrictions set upon diverswith regard to physical endurance of water pressure. Future explorationand salvage work, however, has to be done at considerable greater waterdepths, particularly with reference to ocean mining operations. It isone objective of the present invention to design a submarine forexploration purposes at great water depths. Another objective of thepresent invention concerns the attachment of salvage means to thesubmarine, enabling the submarine, for instance, to salvage strickenocean mining equipment from the ocean bottom. In other words, amulti-purpose submarine which answers future requirements of deep-seaoperations, may it be scientific work or commercial operations, likeocean mining.

It is proposed to provide for the operating personnel a pressure vesselof preferably cylindrical shape with halfspherical ends. The pressurevessel with its main axis in vertical position is embraced by a rigidbuoyancy structure which serves as a beam for the attachment ofpreferably inflatable salvage bags as described in my US. Patent No.3,080,844, and further for the attachment of propulsion organs.

The rigid buoyancy structure, composed of preferably two boxgirders, isdesigned for neutral buoyancy obtained by partly filling the space ofthe boxgirders with a fluid lighter than water, and partly filling itwith seawater. In this way, the boxgirders are pressure equalized andneed not be built of special shapes like cylinders or spheres. Flatboxgirders are also better suited to sustain forces and moments from thesalvage gear. However, it is understood that a row of cylinders, stackedone above the other, may replace the recommended boxgirder withoutdeparting from the present invention.

Surplus buoyancy is in part produced by the pressure vessel whichaccommodates the operating .personnel. The pressure vessel is notfixedly attached to the boxg'irders but has allowance to move up anddown. In order to prevent the pressure vessel from slipping in either.direction there are noses at the upper and lower rim of the cylindricalpart of the pressure vessel. When the vessel is floating at the surface,the lower noses contact the rigid structure of the submarine, exerting alifting force. When the vessel is submerged with slight. negativebuoyancy of the pressure vessel, the upper noses contact the rigidstructure of the submarine. It is recommended to provide a specialcylinder between the boxgirde-rs in which the pressure vessel is housedwith the purpose in mind to allow a number of noses coming in contactwith the upper and lower rim of the special cylinder.

Ballast tanks within the pressure vessel, when filled, produce a slightnegative buoyancy of the pressure vessel, causing the latter to sinkuntil the upper noses contact the rim of the special cylinder. Thisagain produces a vertical load on the submarine structure whichcontributes to negative buoyancy of the structure, and the submarinewill sink. Sinking of the submarine may be assisted by the propulsionmeans as described later. Draining of the tanks inside the pressurevessel has the opposite effect.

An exploration and salvage submarine designed to work at great waterdepths requires high maneuverability. -It is suggested to installpropulsion means capable to produce forces and moments with six degreesof freedom.

Patented Dec. 20, 1966 To accomplish .this, there are at each end of thesubmarine propulsion means in form of jets or customary propellers whichare rotatable around the transverse axis and around the longitudinalaxis of the submarine. In this way, thrust forces can be adjusted at anyspatial angle. When both propulsion means are acting in the longitudinalaxis, the submarine proceeds straight ahead or astern. When the forwardthrust is directed under an angle against the longitudinal axis and theaft thrust directed at the same angle in mirror arrangement, boththrusts produce a resultant thrust which transverses the submarinewithout motion in longitudinal direction. When the propulsion means atthe aforesaid adjustment are rotated around the longitudinal axis,thesubmarine transverses in any longitudinal plane. Limit cases arevertical up and down motions, corresponding to rising and sinking.

When the two propulsion means are rotated around the transverse axis andadjusted under the same angle fore and aft against the longitudinalaxis, positive at the one end and negative at the other end, there is amoment produced which rotates the submarine on the spot when boththrusts are the same. Again, when both propulsion means are rotated inthis position around the longitudinal axis, the submarine turns on thespot in the respective plane. A limit case is the rotation of thesubmarine from its level position into avertical position with endsup-side-down.

When currents are present, and it is desired to keep the submarinemotionless against such currents, the forward and aft .propulsion meanscan be adjusted in such manner that the resultant thrust produces therequired counterforce and countermoment. This applies not only forcurrents in the level plane but for currents in any other plane, forinstance, downward currents orcurrents which may attack the submarinefrom any direction. The propulsion means can be rotated around thelongitudinal axis under 360 degrees. For practical reasons the rotationfor the propulsion means around the transverse axis is limited to :45degrees which is sufficient to product the desired effect.

Salvage means are arranged in the space betweenrthe two boxgirders. Toprovide stiffness of the -structure,'particularly with reference tosalvage forces, the two boxgirders are crossconnected by bulkheads.Longitudinal centerbeams transfer salvage hook forces to the structureon which the salvage bags are suspended, i.e., the two Eoxgirders andappropriate foundations for the salvage ags.

Since adiver cannot work at great water depths, fastening jobs ofsalvage hooks have to be done remotecontrolled by special means. It issuggested to use a conical shaped body attached to the lower end of thesalvage rope or chain. The cone is introduced by proper submarinemaneuvers into a matching conical sleeve which is fastened to ships,barges and the like structure beforehand as a precautional measure.

vIn order to introduce the cone into the sleeve, the sleeve has at theside a slot. This will be done by proper maneuvers of the submarine.After the cone is engaged in the hollow of the sleeve,'the submarine isslightly raised which causes the cone to be firmly booked at the salvageobject. This procedure is repeated at several locations. With allsalvage bags placed in hooking position, the salvage bags aresimultaneously inflated by remote controlled means, and the salvageobject is raised.

Since only the salvage bags and the 'bioxgirders are needed for thesalvage operation, the pressure vessel, accommodating the operatingpersonnel, has no function anymore, It is therefore a special feature ofthe present invention that the pressure vessel detaches 'herself fromthe structure of the submarinea-fter completion of the attachment work.It is also suggested to detach the pressure vessel from the structure ofthe submarine from each unit after completion of the attachment work ofeach unit, and to insert the pressure vessel into each following unit.In this way, one pressure vessel can serve a number of salvage beams, inorder to use this expression for the rigid structure of the submarineless the pressure vessel.

Detachment of the pressure vessel from the rigid structure of thesubmarine is accomplished by removing the lower ring of the pressurevessel which carries the lower noses. The ring, and consquently thenoses are removed preferably by remote controlled means from inside thepressure vessel, preferably by explosion rivets. Prior to removal of thenose-ring, the ballast tanks inside the pressure vessel are blownresulting in positive buoyancy of the pressure vessel which enables thepressure vessel to rise immediately upon removal of the nose-ring. Thepressure vessel and the operating personnel ascend to the surface. Thepossibility of an easy attachment of the pressure vessel from the rigidstructure of the submarine provides at the same time a safety measurewhen for any reason the operating personnel has to abandon the submarineusing the pressure vessel as a rescue vehicle.

The space between the boxgirders is occupied by gas producing apparatus,air flasks, batteries, fuel-cells and other equipment as needed for theoperation of the submarine.

Power cables leading from the pressure vessel to the propulsion meansand other equipment are preferably arranged at the upper portion of thepressure vessel with enough length to yield vertical movements of thepressure vessel. At those points where the power cables are goingthrough the shell of the pressure vessel, thereare remote controlleddetachable means for releasing of the power cables when the pressurevessel detaches herself from the rigid sub-marine structure aspreviously mentioned.

It should be appreciated that the advantages of the present inventionwith regard to high maneuverability and to use the submarine as asalvage means are mainly obtained by a basically symmetrical layout ofthe submarine with reference to the midship transverse plane.

Other features and innovations of the invention will become moreapparent when the description proceeds in conjunction with the drawingof a preferred embodiment of the invention, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of the submarine showing alternately a jetpropulsion means and a customary propeller;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side elevation showing propellers for translatory motion ofthe submarine, here downward motion;

FIG. 4 is a cross-section along line AA of FIG. 1;

'FIG. 5 is a cross-section along line BB of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a side elevation of the submarine with salvage bags inoperating condition and salvage rope attachment cones;

FIG. 7 shows the drive arrangement for rotating a customary propelleraround the longitudinal axis and the transverse axis;

FIG. 8 shows the drive arrangement for rotating a jet propulsion meansaround the longitudinal axis and the transverse axis;

FIG. 9 is an elevation of the salvage sleeve;

FIG. 10 is a plan view of the salvage sleeve;

FIG. 11 is a view on a built-in salvage sleeve at the side of a barge.

Referring now to the drawing, and particularly to FIG. 1, there is apressure vessel 1 with an upper half-sphere 2 and a lower half-sphere 3.The pressure vessel 1 is arranged between two boxgirders, 4, 5, whichare crossconnected by bulk-heads 6, 7, 8, and 6a, 7a, 8a. Propulsionmeans 9 and 9a are arranged at the ends of the boxgirders 4, 5. Number 9indicates a jet type propulsion means, and number 9a a customarypropeller. Salvage bags 10, 11 and 10a, 11a are arranged betweenbox-girders 4, 5, shown in folded condition in FIG. 1 and in operatingcondition in FIG. 6. Beams 12, 12a connect the base of the salvage bagsand adjacent structure and carry salvage ropes 13, 13a. The spacebetween the boxgirders 4, 5 is occupied by equipment like air flasks 14and spheres 15, gas producing means 16, fuel-cells 17. Lights 18 arearranged at the lower portion of the submarine.

The pressure vessel 1 has inside tanks 19. When the submarine is at thesurface, tanks 19 are empty, and noses 20 at the lower portion of thepressure vessel 1 contact the lower rim of a special cylinder 22 whichis connected to the boxgirders 4, 5, exerting an upright force on thesubmarine. When the tanks 19 are ballasted, the pressure vessel 1 hasnegative buoyancy and sinks. During sinking the pressure vessel 1 isguided by rollers 21 between the pressure vessel 1 and the specialcylinder 22. The pressure vessel 1 sinks down until noses 23 contact theupper rim of the special cylinder 22. In this position of the pressurevessel 1 the lower half-sphere, preferably built of glass, allows anunobstructed view to the outside, preferably to salvage gear.

When the submarine floats at the surface 24, FIG. 4, the box-girders 4,5 are filled with fluid lighter than water at the lower portion of thetank 25, the upper portion 26 occupied by air. In order to destroybuoyancy, air 26 is released, whereupon fluid occupies the upper portion25a of the boxgirder space, and the lower portion 27 is occupied byseawater which passes through openings 28.

It is recommended to design the submarine in this condition with neutralbuoyancy, except the small buoyancy of the pressure vessel 1. Negativebuoyancy of the entire system is produced by filling tanks 19 aspreviously described. After filling of tanks 19, the submarine sinks,ready to assume underwater work. Sinking of the submarine may beassisted by placing the propulsion means in appropriate position asshown in FIG. 3 producing a resultant thrust 29 which pulls thesubmarinedown.

Referring now to FIG. 8, a jet propulsion means 9 is hinged at 30, 31with bearings 32, 33 which are attached to a rotatable sheave 34 havingample openings .35 for transverse rotation of the propulsion means 9.The sheave 34 is rotated by a motor 36 which engages a bevel gear ring37 attached to the boxgirders 4, 5 and adjacent structure as best shownin FIG. 1. The sheave 34 is kept in position by thrust bearings 38. Thepropulsion means 9 is rotated around a transverse axis by a motor 39 viaa tooth gear rim 40. The motor 39 is attached to the sheave 34.

A customary propeller 9a, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 7, is driven by anelectromotor 41 housed in a spherical body 42. The spherical body 42 isrotatable around the transverse axis by the aid of pins 43, 44. The pin44 carries a bevel gear 45. A motor 46 attached to the spherical body 42and engaging the bevel gear 45 rotates the propeller 9a around thetransverse axis. Pins 43, 44 are. fastened to a ring 48 carrying a bevelgear ring 48a in the transverse plane which is rotated by a motor 49.attached to the boxgirder structure. The ring 48 is kept in place bythrust bearings 50. Sphere 42 is filled with fluid.

Referring to the salvage hooking device as shown in FIGS. 9, 10 and 11,there is a sleeve 54 which has a slot 55 with an opening 56 that a cone57 can be introduced in the hollow of the sleeve 54. The cone 57 isattached to a salvage rope 13. After the cone is introduced into thesleeve 54 and lifted, the upper part 58 of the cone 57 engages a hole 59of the sleeve 54 which prevents the cone 57 from slipping. In thisposition the cone 57 contacts the inner surface of the sleeve 54 and isable to transmit salvage forces. It should be appreciated that theopening of the hole 59 is slightly larger than the diameter of thesalvage rope 13, and the bore of the hole 59 slightly larger than thediameter of the upper part of the cone 57.

The upper part 58 of the cone '57 is perferably of cylindrical shape.Sleeves 54 are attached to salvage objects 60 as shown in FIG. 6. Anumber of sleeves may be attached to hard points of ships, barges andthe like structures. Another arrangement of .the sleeves 54 is shown inFIG. 11. A barge 61 has at a number of places at the side matchingchannels 63 in which the cone 57 is introduced by proper manuevering ofthe submarine in the same fashion as shown in FIG. 9 for establishingsalvage rope connections. It should be appreciated that the highmaneuver capabilities of the submarine on account of the specialarrangement of the propulsion units as described previously will greatlycontribute to the establishment of salvage rope connections to thesalvage object at great water depths where customary diver work toperform such jobs is prohibitive.

The upper half-sphere 2 of the pressure vessel 1 carries an access hatch64. Tanks 19 may be arranged at the lower portion or at the upperportion of the pressure vessel 1 as indicated by dotted lines in FIG. 4.A platform 65 divides the space of the pressure vessel 1 in an upper andin a lower observation space. The platform 65 has a hatch opening 66.Detachment means 67 hold cables 68, FIG. 4.

While the invention has been described in connection with a singleembodiment, it will be obvious that many changes and modifications instructural details may occur to the skilled in the art, particularlyafter benefiting from the present teaching, without departing from thespirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. An exploration and salvage submarine, comprising a cylindricalpressure vessel with half-spherical ends in vertical positioning betweentwo longitudinal boxgirders, inflatable salvage bags fore and aft ofsaid pressure vessel and attached -to said two longitudinal boxgirders,propulsion means at both ends of the submarine attached to and betweensaid two longitudinal boxgirders, transverse bulkheads connecting saidtwo longitudinal boxgirders, structural transverse and longitudinalmembers at the lower portion of said bulkheads fore and aft of thepressure vessel and salvage ropes and hooks attached thereto.

2. The exploration and salvage submarine of claim 1, wherein thecylindrical pressure vessel is floating at positive buoyancy while thesystem is at the surface, and equipped inside with ballast tanks forproducing a negative buoyancy of the cylindrical pressure vessel whilethe system is submerged.

3. The exploration and salvage submarine of claim 1, wherein said twolongitudinal boxgirders define buoyancy spaces on port and star-boardwhich are partly filled with a fluid lighter than water in their lowerportion and with air in their upper portion for positive buoyancy of thesystem, openings at the lower portion of said boxgirders allowingentrance of water when the said air is allowed to escape for producingneutral or slightly negative buoyancy when the system is submerged withsaid boxgirders pressure equalized when their space is filled entirelywith water and fluid.

4. The exploration and salvage submarine of claim 1, wherein thepropulsion means at both ends of the submarine are rotatably attached tothe longitudinal boxgirders around the longitudinal axis and thetransverse axis.

5. The exploration and salvage submarine of claim 4, wherein thepropulsion means consist of a reversible submersible electromotor, apropeller shaft, a propeller, and the propulsion means housed in apressure equalized sphere having a pear-shaped extension accommodatingthe shaft and the propeller, and said sphere filled with fluid.

6. The exploration and salvage submarine of claim 5, wherein the saidsphere rotates around the transverse axis by the aid of two rods, saidrods engaging bearings fixedly attached to the sphere, said rods fixedlyattached to a 6. ring which rotates around the longitudinal axis, saidring held in position by thrust bearings fixedly attached to thelongitudinal boxgirders and other adjacent structure of the vehicle.

7. The exploration and salvage submarine of claim 1, having a firstmotor and gear for rotating said propulsion means around thelongitudinal axis, and a second motor and gear for rotating saidpropulsion means around the transverse axis.

8. The exploration and salvage submarine of claim 1, having a powersupply cable to the propulsion means extending from the end-bulkhead andof suflicient length beyond the end-bulkhead to allow for rotation ofthe propulsion means around the longitudinal axis and the transverseaxis.

9. The exploration and salvage submarine of claim 1, equipped with atleast one salvage rope, said salvage rope carrying at its lower end acone with an upper cylindrical extension, said cone matching the hollowof a conical sleeve with a corresponding slot for introducing said cone,said sleeve attached to surface structures beforehand as a precautionalmeasure, said sleeve having a bore at the upper end with a diameterslightly greater than the diameter of the cylindrical upper extension ofthe cone, said bore having a slot with an opening slightly greater thanthe diameter of the salvage rope.

10. The exploration and salvage submarine of claim 1, having powersupply cables from inside of the pressure vessel to outside, said cablesbeing of sufficient length to yield vertical movements of the pressurevessel.

11. The exploration and salvage submarine of claim 1, having structuralmembers basically in symmetrical arrangement relative to the midshiptransverse plane.

12. An exploration and salvage submarine, comprising a. cylindricalpressure vessel with half-spherical ends mounted movably in verticaldirection between two longitudinal boxgirders, inflatable salvage bagsfore and aft of said pressure vessel and attached to said twolongitudinal boxgirders, propulsion means at both ends of the submarineattached to and between said two longitudinal boxgirders, transversebulkheads connecting said two longitudinal boxgirders, structuraltransverse and longitudinal members at the lower portion of saidbulkheads fore and aft of the pressure vessel, and salvage ropes andhooks attached thereto.

13. An exploration and salvage submarine, comprising a cylindricalpressure vessel with half-spherical ends mounted movably in verticaldirection between two longitudinal boxgirders within a special cylinderattached to said boxgirders, inflatable salvage bags fore and aft ofsaid pressure vessel and attached to said two longitudinal boxgirders,propulsion means at both ends of the submarine attached to and betweensaid two longitudinal boxgirders, transverse bulkheads connecting saidtwo longitudinal boxgirders, structural transverse and longitudinalmembers at the lower portion of said bulkheads fore and aft of thepressure vessel, and salvage ropes and hooks attached thereto.

14. The exploration and salvage submarine of claim 12, wherein thecylindrical pressure vessel is floating at positive buoyancy while thesystem is at the surface and equipped inside with ballast tanks forproducing a negative buoyancy of the cylindrical pressure vessel whilethe system is submerged.

15. The exploration and salvage submarine of claim 1 having power supplycables from inside of the pressure vessel to outside arranged at theupper half-spherical structure, said cables being of suflicient lengthto yield vertical movements of the pressure vessel.

16. The exploration and salvage submarine of claim 1, wherein thepropulsion means are housed in a pressureequalized sphere.

(References on following page) References Cited by the Examiner UNITEDSTATES PATENTS 3/1920 Deam 11454 8/1942 Babcoke 115-35 X 9/1963Froehlich 114 16 FOREIGN PATENTS 10/1961 France.

8 OTHER REFERENCES 5 MILTON BUCHLER, Primary Examiner.

FERGUS S MIDDLETON, Examiner.

T. M. BLIX, Assistant Examiner.

1. AN EXPLORATION AND SALVAGE SUBMARINE, COMPRISING A CYLINDERICALPRESSURE VESSEL WITH HALF-SPHERICAL ENDS IN VERTICAL POSITIONING BETWEENTWO LONGITUDINAL BOXGRIDERS, INFLATABLE SALVAGE BAGS FORE AND AFT OFSAID PRESSURE VESSEL AND ATTACHED TO SAID TWO LONGITUDINAL BOXGRIDERS,PROPULSION MEANS AT BOTH ENDS OF THE SUBMARINE ATTACHED TO AND BETWEENSAID TWO LONGITUDINAL BOXGIRDERS, TRANSVERSE BULKHEADS CONNECTING SAIDTWO LONGITUDINAL BOXGRIDERS STRUCTRUAL TRANSVERSE AND LONGITUDINALMEMBERS AT THE LOWER PORTION OF SAID BULKBEADS FORE AND AFT OF THEPRESSURE VESSEL AND SALVAGE ROPES AND HOOKS ATTACHED THERETO.